New Sound Transit light rail equipment debuts

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The first of 152 new Siemens light rail vehicles was unveiled by Seattle's Sound Transit on Wednesday.

Sound Transit

Sound Transit says the new equipment has wider aisles, more luggage space and more bike capacity than current light rail vehicles.

Sound Transit

SEATTLE — The first of 152 new Siemens light rail vehicles for Sound Transit has been delivered, beginning the process of delivering the equipment for new services to begin over the next five years.

The vehicle arrived by truck on June 6 from Siemens' Sacramento, Calif., plant, and after unwrapping and some on-site assembly, was unveiled to reporters on Wednesday.

The new cars have 74 seats, wider aisles, more luggage-storage space, and twice as many bicycle hooks (four) as the current generation of light-rail equipment.

Sound Transit expects one to three cars to be delivered each month as it prepares to launch service to Northgate in 2021, to Bellevue in 2023, and Lynnwood, Redmond, and Federal Way in 2024. Those expansions will more than double the Link light rail network, from 22 to miles to 50, while the new equipment will take the light-rail fleet from 62 to 214 vehicles.